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Homework, High School and the IRONMAN World Championship

Saturday's youngest competitor hopes to show his peers what he loves about the sport.

by Jennifer Ward Barber

Despite his youth, José Manuel Alvarez is no stranger to IRONMAN racing. He’s probably seen more gel packets and crumpled-up race bibs lying around the house than most other competitors here this weekend. The son of Luis Alvarez, who hopes to complete his 100th IRONMAN this weekend, Alvarez has already become an endurance junkie.

"I did my first triathlon when I was 6," Alvarez says. But it’s the next factoid that was even more impressive: He did his first marathon in L.A. at the age of 12. "I was very tired, but my first half a few months before that was actually worse," he recalls. "I wasn’t mentally prepared for a half, but later, because of that, I was more prepared for the full."

Alvarez considers himself lucky to have his father here to help show him the ropes—fill his special needs bags, and offer bike tech support. Luis is also, of course, his son’s main inspiration for taking on the race. "Of course he is a little bit crazy," Alvarez adds.

The father and son duo train together on occasion, but the 18-year-old high school student says he often trains alone. "In the last few months [my dad] had to do five IRONMANs in five weeks," he explains. Needless to say, Alvarez senior was on the road a lot.

Next year Alvarez will study chemical engineering at university in Mexico City. "I’m going to do some sports, but I don’t think I’m going to do another IRONMAN next year," he says, anticipating that he’ll need a break. He says he will continue to do shorter triathlons and marathons.

High school and training for an IRONMAN isn’t so different than the challenges older adults face: "With the school work it’s not a problem," Alvarez says, "but with your friends it is. They’re in another context. They want to party all the time and drink, but it’s like 'no, I have to train tomorrow.'" Sound familiar?

Nutrition can be a tricky thing for teenaged athletes inundated with junk food, but Alvarez says everything in his house is healthy. "When my friends come over they say ‘you don’t have anything good,’—but that’s how I manage to stay fit."

He says that if he could send one message to people his age, it would be how fun the sport is. He says his good friends are pretty lazy, except for one, who’s a climber.

But there’s more. Alvarez would also tell them how triathlon will "push you to do better things. It’s going to make you more patient, more energetic, and … happy."

Hopefully on Saturday we’ll see some of that joy etched across the youngest face in the crowd.